Mothers
by SilenceoftheHeart
Summary: Just a moment in time for the two boys and their mothers. Oneshot


Warnings-a spoiled brat Sesshoumaru and thoughts of fratricide

Disclaimer-I do not own Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Mama-sama, or Izzy.

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It was playing, dirtying itself in the mud like a pig, although the creature was searching for fun rather than the coolness. Sesshoumaru nodded with self-satisfaction as he decided that this creature was below even swine, which rutted in the mud as a natural protection from heat. But as the tiny creature pulled itself away from the sloppy, wet earth, dragging its oversized clothing behind it, Sesshoumaru wasn't quite so sure that it was fun the thing had been engaged in.

The young inuyoukai had stumbled upon this place purely by accident. Had he been thinking about where he was going rather than simply following the sunset, he would have turned and followed the darkening sky instead. When he'd arrived only moments ago, the little beast had been splashing around in the mud and Sesshoumaru had assumed it'd been playing but now that it was crawling away, Sesshoumaru wasn't quite so sure.

It was a young thing, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but be acutely aware that it was exactly six summers old…a detail he had no desire to know but did anyway. A heavy mane of white hair was currently straggling in heavy clumps, stained an ugly brown. Red hakama were tied around its waist but the matching red haori was clutched tightly in its hands as it dragged itself away from the puddle and toward a small well nearby, clearly one established for servants as it was poorly maintained and set well back from the estate. Beneath the thick streaks of mud that were drying on the creature's back and about its ribs were reddening mars that looked to be rapidly darkening. The angle the inuyoukai was watching from as well as the heavy fall of hair prevented Sesshoumaru from seeing if the same were true of the young thing's face, but it probably was.

_So it was beaten and dumped in the mud_, Sesshoumaru decided dispassionately. _Still pathetic._ Clearly, the creature was too weak to survive and the fact that Sesshoumaru had stumbled upon this place was suddenly seeming less like an accident and more like a plea for mercy to put this thing out of its misery.

"Sad, isn't it," a voice teased from behind him as Sesshoumaru stepped forward, ready to come out from under the cover of the trees and relieve the creature of its life. "The poor boy cannot even find peace within his own home."

"All the more reason to dispose of it," Sesshoumaru hissed, not in the least amused that his plan had been interrupted before he'd even managed to finish thinking it through. And damn but he hadn't even heard the crazy old woman arrive.

"I wouldn't say that," the woman mused as Sesshoumaru turned to glare at her. "Perhaps it just means that someone should be a bit more understanding and compassionate toward him."

"It can't even survive on its own, letting it live would be more cruel that killing it," Sesshoumaru answered. "And one cannot have understanding nor compassion toward a beast that ruts in the mud."

"Is that so?" she answered, a soft, irritating smile curving her painted lips and Sesshoumaru cursed the amused glint in her golden eyes. "I seem to remember another little boy who was once eerily similar to this small child. And unlike this one, _he_ played in the mud on purpose. "

"I did no such thing," Sesshoumaru growled, turning away from his mother in frustration. There was a very good reason why he refused to visit with her unless absolutely necessary and the itching feeling that was crawling up his neck was that very reason. The stubborn old woman was the only person in the world capable of driving him to such annoyance.

"Of course not," she agreed, the blatant patronization in her voice making her agreement anything but. "I never had to hold you down and wash mud out of your hair while you threw a temper tantrum only to have you run back outside and get yourself dirty again completely out of spite. I remember clearly how you were born knowing how to hunt so that I never had to spend an ounce of effort in finding you food, or making sure to chew it up before feeding it to you so you wouldn't choke. Even dressing yourself was simple--the reason you weren't exposed to the elements the winter after your birth was because you were so amazingly self-sufficient. Of course, I remember all of that. Not for one day were you unable to survive completely on your own."

Sesshoumaru didn't bother to answer his mother as he keep his sharp gaze on the tiny boy working the well. This thing was different and if his mother was too blind to see that, well then, he couldn't explain it to her. The woman was just plain batty, anyway. Of course, when he was a tiny pup he'd been entirely depended on his mother but he'd grown. He didn't need her now. That was how things worked. This thing before them would never manage on its own.

"But look at it," he finally said as a bucket of water was finally pulled over the rim of the well, a bucket that seemed nearly as big as the small child trying to wield it. "No one cares for it, no one wants it, not only can't it care for itself but it'll never survive on its own this way. It's a miracle that it's lasted this long."

"I don't know about that," his mother replied, her voice containing that irritating ring which meant that she did know something and wasn't telling. Water poured over the creature's head, turning his brown hair a lighter shade of brown as the clumps of mud washed away and left a stain behind. As it lifted its young face into the water and the earth washed from his skin, Sesshoumaru found himself uncomfortable to see that he hadn't been wrong earlier. One eye was bruised and already swelling and his mouth appeared to be cut. It was a look he never wanted to see on a child again.

"Inuyasha," a woman's voice rang out over the estate and the boy turned quickly toward it, grabbing up his haori to hide behind his back as a young woman turned a corner on the veranda surrounding the mansion and spied him. "Inuyasha," she cried as he turned toward her. "Are you okay?"

Defying the laws of physics and fashion, the dark-haired human ran down the stairs and quickly closed the distance to the well, fabric flying around her as she ran.

"'M fine," the boy murmured as arms enfolded him, heavy layers of brocaded silk wrapping around him heedless of the water and mud that clung to him.

"Of course you are," she said, her voice tight with anxiety that Sesshoumaru could feel and he was sure even the creature below could hear.

"I think someone cares for him very much," his mother said from beside him. Turning slightly, so he could glare at the woman from the corner of his eye, Sesshoumaru stopped when he saw the slightly wistful expression on her face. Her sharp golden eyes had turned soft and her head was cocked slightly as through she were watching a dream rather than seeing a harsh reality.

"Only that human whore--" he started, trying to wash that expression away only to stop as her hand reached out and slapped him with an open palm on the back of his head. He growled slightly, quitting when he realized he sounded like a petulant child.

"A mother always love her son," she stated as they watched the woman use the delicate fabric of her sleeves to wipe away at the remaining grime that covered the child's body before plucking the stained, red fabric from his hands. Pulling the child up into her arms, the human woman carried him away, leaving the two inuyoukai staring at the abandoned well.

"They both suffer more than you, Sesshoumaru," his mother said. "Let them be. Don't make her suffering worse that it has already been." There was a soft rustle of silk and Sesshoumaru turned to see her walk away from him and back into the woods.

"Have you grown soft, Mother?" he asked, genuinely curious. Of course, he knew that if he wasn't curious it would sound sarcastic and he had no desire to be at the end of her claws should the batty woman decide he was being sarcastic.

"Soft?" she repeated, turning to look at him, then at the mansion, then back to him. "No, I don't think so. I just understand, that's all. There is something very important about caring for someone helpless. Something far more important that revenge or honor. Perhaps, someday, you'll understand as well." Sesshoumaru watched as she turned away, her silken kimonos flapping slightly yet soundlessly in the wind and her twin ponytails mapping the currents of the air as she disappeared as silently as she had appeared.

Despite the fact that she was crazy and despite the fact that she drove him nearly as insane, Sesshoumaru knew that he'd leave this human woman and her half-breed child alone simply to allow his mother to continue indulging in whatever fantasy she was building here. Because he _could_ remember when the older woman had held him down and scrubbed him clean and when she'd carved his food and when she'd fixed his clothes. He could also remember the things she hadn't mentioned. He remembered when she'd held him at night and told him stories, when she'd tickled him to erase childhood tears and childhood fears. Mostly, he remembered that despite her eccentric ways that held everyone else away, she'd always been there for him and only for him.

And if he could grant the simple wish of staying away from this one mansion, it was an easily granted wish.

_Besides_, he thought with a smile, _it's only until the human woman dies. Then the half-breed is mine._

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Annoying A/N-I just wanted to write a little something for Mother's Day. It's not very good, I know but I thank you all for reading it anyway.

Silence


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